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Project Daybreak
Project Daybreak was an Aeropan program aimed at enhancing the human condition through the use of and . This included making advancements in medicine, genetic engineering, and ultimately, directed evolution. The project was benevolent, and had been part of Aeropa's societal vision for decades. Project Nightfall was the spiritual successor to Daybreak, borne of the clandestine and ethically dubious aspects of its predecessor. It began as a frantic attempt at reversing a tragic misstep of Daybreak, but eventually devolved into a reflection of Skyheed's lust for power and evolution. In contrast to Daybreak, it sought to accelerate human evolution, and eradicate illness not through medicine, but by "culling the incurable". Timeline ; Pre-Nightfall * Commander Phoenix is Project Daybreak's head administrator. However, results have been inadequate, and due to previous political competition, Skyheed wrests control of the program from Phoenix. Phoenix remains the commander of the Aeropan Air Forces. * Skyheed finds the Eco Core, believing it to be the resource they needed to bolster Daybreak. * Skyheed assigns Tym, an infamous but mild-mannered sage of dark eco, to be the head scientist of the project. * Tym warns Skyheed against siphoning eco from the Core, but Skyheed refuses to heed his warnings. Tym is unable to produce concrete evidence of any (potential) damage—and he is barred from attempting to procure it. * Under pressure, Skyheed attempts to accelerate the program's progress, and begins administrating far too much eco directly into his civilians. While it initially has good results (curing illnesses, providing doctors with powerful new synthesized eco drugs), the science was too faulty for it to be 100% safe and sustainable. * Many begin to question where Skyheed is getting the eco. In an attempt to avoid resistance, Skyheed begins classifying aspects of the project, causing many, chiefly Commander Phoenix, to become suspicious. Dissenters coin Daybreak under Skyheed's command "Nightfall". ; Tragedy strikes * Tragedy strikes as civilians begin to turn up sick and dead. Furthermore, reports have reached the Brink of underground eco pipelines running dry on the other side of the world, causing a potentially global eco shortage. * Pressure is put on Skyheed to solve the crisis; he refuses to publicly admit that the latest advancements in Daybreak have anything to do with it. He then further classifies most aspects of the project, and shuts himself off from the public. * Phoenix decides he's had enough; people are dying, and Skyheed is not communicating or accepting responsibility. He decides to defect, along with a small band of loyal subordinates. He attempts to reach out to Ruskin, with whom he has a strong relationship, but Ruskin is privy to Skyheed's secrets and decides it best for the Aeropan people he stick it out with Skyheed. * Due to the eco shortage becoming worse, Tym decides to attempt to take back the program's main facility by force. He builds combat robots to do so, but it is too little too late. Phoenix has decided to kidnap Tym as a way to impede the program's progress, not knowing Tym too has also decided to rebel. * When Phoenix arrives to kidnap Tym, Tym thinks he's there to arrest him for treason. He puts up a fight, sustaining a severe head injury in the process, and is eventually captured. Phoenix maroons Tym on the island, along with all of his work, blueprints, and research that he is able to acquire. ; Mainlander contact * Jak, Daxter, and Keira arrive at the Brink, meeting Skyheed and Ruskin. Skyheed takes an interest in Jak, who curiously is able to absorb and channel eco (noticeably without the side effects ailing Aeropan civilians). He also takes a (cautious) interest in Keira, an aspiring sage on a quest to solve the eco shortage. * Ruskin is highly skeptical of Jak; he believes that Skyheed modeling the project after Jak will derail it and make things worse, as he views Jak as a monster. He is also distrusting of Keira, who he thinks will eventually discover the fact that they are siphoning eco from the Core and attempt to stop them. * Skyheed pries Jak and Keira as to why Jak is able to sustain eco injections, channel and absorb eco, etc. This causes Jak and Daxter to become weary, as they wouldn't want Skyheed to take Daybreak and attempt to implement what Jak is capable of; they feel it would be a repeat of the Dark Warrior Program. * Jak and Keira attempt to explain that Jak is simply special; they can't explain why Jak is the way he is. This frustrates Skyheed, as he thinks they are not cooperating with him. He projects the blame he carries, for his people's plague, onto them. * Meanwhile Keira is inching closer to discovering the cause of the eco shortage; Skyheed feels his time is running out to use Jak to solve his problem. ; Desperate measures * Believing Jak's light eco powers to be the key, Skyheed attempts to synthesize light eco by combining colored eco from the core. However, it is not that simple; it requires a highly specialized process attainable only by experienced sages, or through rare Precursor technology. * Skyheed begins using this on his civilians, which only makes matters worse. Jak and Keira then decide they've had enough and defect. * Jak and Keira join the Mutineers, meanwhile Skyheed acknowledges his light eco project is not working. He instead begins to think it was actually Jak's dark powers that were making him special; he also views this as a more convenient option, as he wouldn't have to synthesize eco, and could take it straight from the Core's supply lines. * Skyheed rationalizes this by adopting a philosophy that dark eco is not as dangerous as people have made it out to be. After all, Tym, the sage of dark eco, was not negatively affected. He promises that the only way for humanity to truly advance is to not fear dark eco. * This is the last straw for Ruskin, and he begins to secretly serve as an informant to the Mutineers in an attempt to stop Skyheed. ; Nightfall * Some buy into Skyheed's new promise, while others offer only backlash and criticism. Skyheed resentfully adopts the mentality of "If nightfall is what you want, nightfall is what you'll get." He officially rebrands Daybreak as Nightfall. * He begins using dark eco on his civilians. It heals their ailments, but at a terrible cost. They become mutated. Skyheed doesn't view it as a negative, however; rather, he views it as the next stage of human evolution. * Skyheed ramps up Nightfall, exposing all of his civilians to dark eco "treatments". History Initially, whether to tolerate and support Daybreak was a source of conflict between Jak and Keira, with Daxter caught in the middle. Whereas Keira was fascinated with the progressive and scientific aspects of the project, it struck Jak and Daxter as too reminiscent of the . However, because of Aeropa's abundance of resources and their current fight against an eco-leeching threat, the Mutineers (as well as the project's overall more benevolent attitude and approach), Keira convinced Jak to become comfortable with the project and the Aeropans. In return for using their resources, Aeropa solicited the help of Jak and Keira for Project Daybreak, with Jak's unique eco channeling abilities, and Keira's sagely, scientific, and mechanical expertise. Skyheed also took some interest in Daxter, who he viewed as a "biological marvel". Keira was given a lab and all the resources she needed to further her quest to solve the eco shortage, and prove herself as a sage in the process, while Skyheed and Jak developed a cautiously optimistic rapport. Eventually, these roles reverse. Skyheed and Jak become too close, because Skyheed effectively cajoles Jak into accepting even morally murky ideas and aspirations by appealing to Jak's ego. This causes Keira to become more skeptical, which draws some resentment from Jak in his moment of poor judgment. To pacify Keira and neutralize her as a threat, Skyheed throws her more proverbial bones, gradually letting her "discover" information that could lead them to the eco core (but never does). Behind the scenes ; Problems so far * Jak thinking Phoenix is responsible for the project. This needs to be a point of conflict when they get to the barracks. Why would Jak think Phoenix is responsible? Which parts would he think Phoenix is responsible for?